Timminco Limited: O Canada! Solar Grade Silicon, Eh? – Part 2

Production capacity expansion and Landsbanki/Kepler presentation

Last Friday, February 22, 2008, the Timminco Limited (TSE:TIM) subsidiary, Bécancour Silicon Inc. (BSI), announced plans to expand annual solar grade silicon production capacity from 3600 MT (Metric Tons) to 14400 MT in Timminco Announces Expansion of Production Capacity for Solar Grade Silicon. This expansion is slated for completion by mid 2009 at a cost of about $65 million (I presume Canadian Dollars or CAD) and will establish BSI as the leading volume producer of solar grade silicon by upgrading metallurgical silicon (mg-Si).

Analysis of the solar grade silicon by shipment shows continuous improvement in Phosphorous and Boron impurity levels. An independent lab (SHIVA Technologies) analysis of BSI’s solar grade silicon from the first production line found concentrations of less than 1 ppm wt (parts per million by weight) Boron with Phosphorous concentrations centered around 5 ppm wt.

I heard from an informed source that while some BSI customers blend the solar grade silicon material with polysilicon in a 1:1 ratio, others can produce working silicon solar cells with 100% BSI material. BSI announced four (4) long term customer contracts for High Purity Silicon and sampled 24 customers with 90 MT of solar grade silicon from the pilot plant in 2007. Since then, BSI has purchase orders for 2008 from four (4) new customers and claims the “High quality and cleanliness of material has enabled monocrystalline production”.

I have been searching for the patents related to BSI’s Silbec Process. It appears these have been moving forward and may be published soon.